one year re-anniversary...

And a post to represent each month. Unacceptable. Will blog more.

It's been a while, I guess it's time for an update, huh?

So for the most part I am settled in. It's been an adjustment. I do miss my family and friends back home and I have yet to make any new friends here, so that's been kinda hard. Babe and I haven't had many outings since we moved which sucks. Either it's raining or there's some reason to go to his mom's. We went out to eat twice and really that's about it. Kinda sad now that I think about it... I'm not saying we have to go spend money - obviously this economy and these damn gas prices don't allow for much of that - but I'm sure there's some free or at least some cheap fun we can have. I guess it'll be up to me to figure that out.

I have a job working for his brother's company which I'm grateful for, but I need to start looking elsewhere. I really appreciate his brother helping me out, but the job is just so out of the way. I'm part time right now, and I spend as much time getting to and from work as I do at the actual job. I need something closer. What I really need is to be my own boss but I don't foresee that happening any time soon so yeah... Hourly it is.

Funds have been... I'm not sure yet. I know when we first moved in I spent more than I should have, but that was to be expected. I think I'm getting a better handle on my spending now. Our agreement was that I would take care of the utilities and my own expenses and Babe would take care of the rent and his own expenses. We had some miscommunications about the groceries [I'll talk about that in another post, maybe tomorrow] but I think we've got it together now. That was a learning experience in and of itself, grocery shopping. Hard to separate the needs from the wants when you're walking down that cookie aisle. But like I said, I think I'm getting a handle on it. I told Babe I wasn't spending any money on anything we didn't need for the rest of the month. That was on May 7th, and I've kept my word, so I do have *some* willpower.

I haven't been back home yet but I'm hoping to remedy that next weekend. My dad and I have birthdays that weekend so I'm excited to see my parents and my brothers and whoever else plans on coming by. Also I plan on making a 7 layer rainbow cake [with some help from my friends]. Mmyeah. I'll be turning 25 with a kiddie cake. Don't hate.

Alright well that's it for the night. More updates and shit to come. Later taters.

we got the apartment!

Insert [panic, excitement, worry, happiness].

April 1st, dudes. Babe and I are getting our own place. Part of me is super excited, part of me is worried. On the one hand, I'm excited to be with him on our own and to start our lives together. On the other hand, now that it's a reality, I'm filled with worry. What if I don't find a job? We saved a good amount of money and he has a good job, but will it be enough? And during these crazy, scary ass times in the U.S., what if something big happens? My dad is very into politics and every day he tells me or has me read something new about this effed up country and I can't help but feel anxious and worried. The stuff he tells me makes me feel like I've been punched in the stomach and sometimes I can't handle it. How am I supposed to live my life and go on about my business while the world is crumbling around us? I prayed that if this situation was going to be okay, that we would get this apartment so I'm just holding onto my faith that we will be okay. Everything is gloom and doom though, so I don't know...

Anyway, that's not what this post was supposed to be about. So. Moving. Yes.

My fiance's brother is giving us a sofa, so that's one less piece of furniture we have to buy which is awesome. It's not really my style, but who am I to turn down free furniture? I also remembered my mom has 4 matching chairs that we don't use, so I'm going to spruce them up with some Rustoleum and new fabric. These also aren't my style, but once again free is free. We still need a table and some other stuff. And now that we don't have to buy a couch, babe is contemplating buying a queen sized bed rather than the full I already have. A bigger bed would be great but that means buying the mattress, a platform, and new bedding. I'm not sure if I'm for it. We've also pretty much settled on just taking one of my dressers. I think we'd be better off with the two but we'll just have to make it work.

So there we have it. I'm moving. Oh boy. Aw yeah.

apartment talk: bedroom

The apartment that I've been blabbing about will be available on April 1st. Babe said he's taking our applications in on Friday, so some time next week we should know whether we have the apartment or not. As you may know from some of my posts, I've been preparing for my big move for a while. I started buying small stuff after we got engaged last year and he and I have been compiling lists of what we'll need to buy when we move in. We were going to get a new bedroom set from Ikea [I love the Malm series] but it's not a priority. I have two big dressers that my mom bought for my room years ago. they were okay but I was never a fan of the color. I decided to paint them black and switch out the hardware.

This is the original knob and color of the dresser:

I love them. Babe is still on the fence though because he's thinking they might be too big for the room. I think they'll fit just fine though and we could definitely use the extra storage so we'll see.

apartment talk

So this is the floor plan [minus the den if it's not available] for the apartment that babe and I will hopefully be moving into. One bedroom, okay size, carpet throughout, decent kitchen. The bathroom is kinda ugly [I believe the tub is pink and the tile is light blue] but that's not a big deal. My problem is with the bedroom. The closets take up one whole wall and on the opposite wall there's a heater. I can't remember if it takes up the whole wall or not I just remember that it was in the way. That's two walls that we can't put the bed on. I also have two dressers that I planned on bringing with me [I'll post pictures of those at a later date - I repainted them and put new knobs on them]. I got bored the other night and did some placement mock-ups in paint [lol I don't have a good photo editor]. I want a square table for the dining area but I can't find a nice one that doesn't cost an arm and a leg. I would actually like to build my own - it seems like a fairly simple undertaking for what I want. I searched craigslist and didn't find anything to promising. For now I'm thinking about the Ingo table [painted white] from Ikea. If we can get a move-in date sometime soon, I'll go down there and we can visit thrift stores and whatnot to see what they have. I went to an Amish flea market in New Jersey recently and they had this black sofa and loveseat combo for $500 [and I probably could have talked the price down some more]. I wish I could have snatched it up but it's probably gone by now. I'm not liking the living room mock-up. I don't like that the front door leads straight into the room. I would like to put some type of divider a few feet across from the door to create a bit of separation between the front door and computer desk. I would also like to do that to break up the living room/dining area, maybe with the Expedit bookcase or a sofa table. This is getting a little ramble-y. I think individual posts for each room are in order. Hurrah!

daydream, I fell asleep beneath the flowers...

I always open up the post editor and then I draw a blank, close the page, and visit other blogs. Let's change that today...

So it's looking like I'm going to be able to get my job transferred to Maryland. It's not my ideal job, but I need an income so it's much better than nothing. I hope that on Friday when I go back I'll hear if, where, and when I can do this. I was hoping for November, which is pushing it time-wise, but oh well. If all works out, I'll stay with K. and his mom (again, not ideal but necessary) until we can find an apartment. I just need confirmation from my job so we can look at more apartments next weekend and set up some timelines. Best case scenario is I can be transferred to Laurel and work in the office rather than selling (I'm in retail) and we can get an apartment in the first complex we visited and fell in love with. I already have the place decorated in my mind. Yes, I'm a crazy person.

I love clean lines and black furniture with pops of color. If I had my choice, the living room color scheme would be similar to my bedroom: black couch, chairs, coffee table, bookshelf, and desk, with green walls, and red and white accents. Other wall colors that I like are greyish blues and purples, again with black furniture, but with silver, black, and crystal accents. I'm loving damask prints and I would love to get a crystal chandelier. I saw a pair of crystal candlestick holders at work that I want but they're expensive as shit so they probably won't be making their way onto my table. I could find some cheaper and probably better looking, I bet.

I could go on about this shit all night. Next time I'll have some visual aids.